Autor also argues that AI can help to democratize expertise, breaking the monopoly held by highly educated experts in fields like healthcare, education, and law. He suggests that AI, by providing real-time guidance and guardrails, could enable a larger set of workers to perform some of the higher-stakes decision-making tasks currently reserved for elite experts. This could improve job quality for workers without college degrees, moderate earnings inequality, and lower the cost of key services.
Key takeaways:
- AI will not eliminate jobs but will reshape the value and nature of human expertise, according to David Autor, a labor economist and professor of economics at MIT.
- AI's ability to learn by example and make decisions based on experience will make it a ubiquitous presence in our working lives, primarily serving to advise, coach, and alert decision-makers.
- AI could democratize expertise by providing decision support, enabling a larger set of non-elite workers to engage in high-stakes decision-making tasks currently reserved for elite experts.
- This democratization of expertise could improve job quality for workers without college degrees, moderate earnings inequality, and lower the cost of essential services like healthcare, education, and legal expertise.